Sterling North and the Story of Rascal

This Badger Bio shares the story of author Sterling North his adventures and misadventures as a young boy growing up in Edgerton, Wisconsin. Young readers will learn how North s early experience in Wisconsin influenced him in writing some of his best loved children s books such as Rascal and So Dear To My Heart.The story gives readers a glimpse of early 20th century customs and lifestyles in the rural Midwest. It also includes global issues of the time, including World War I and the Spanish flu pandemic, which greatly affected Sterling s boyhood. As examples, his admired older brother Hershel served overseas in WWI as Sterling was growing up, bringing world events to the North family s doorstep. His mother Gladys died when Sterling was only 7 years old because of the lack of medical advances in the early 1900s. And, as a young man, Sterling was hit by polio, a common epidemic scourge that left many children with paralysis.Readers will learn of Sterling North s successes, not only as a beloved author of children s books, but as a columnist for the Chicago Daily News, an editor of North Star children s history books, and a well-respected critic of other children s literature.